Maleficent 2 is a family fantasy film directed by Joachim Ronning. The plot follows an evil ruler go to war, wanting to wipe out supernatural creatures using a misunderstanding as justification to do so. Wait a minute, I am getting déjà vu, isn’t that basically the same premise as the first film?
If there was ever a needless sequel this is it. The plot rethreads most of the same beats of the first film, very little of substance is established and overall it feels hollow and made for the money. That would be my two-sentence description of this film.
The main issue with this film is its tone. The first half and hour and the last fifteen minutes of this film seem to think it is a light breezy affair where nothing it taken too seriously, however the rest of the film seems to be direly serious and bleak; did someone not get the memo? This tonal mismatch makes the film feel very jarring and hard to watch.
A lot of the new elements introduced to this film leave you feeling meh. This film introduces a lot of things to this world and this story and a lot of these things you’re supposed to care about, but the film in no way makes you care about them and makes most of them appear flat and boring which is a bafflingly stupid decision.
Jolie is okay here, she is a lot better than in the previous film and actually has some funny lines, sadly however she is kept away from the action for the most part and underused in her own film. Michelle Pfeiffer gets a lot of screen time as the new evil queen, but she is so one note and cartoonishly evil that her character sticks out for all the wrong reasons; clearly the writers don’t understand subtly or nuance.
Overall, this is generic, it adds nothing to the first film and might even undone some of the good things about the first film. Hopefully Disney doesn’t curse us with a third film.
Pros.
Jolie is better
Cons
The one note villain
The weird tone
Nothing new of substance added
Doesn’t justify its own existence.
1/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 